Free Republic

It seems that Uncle Sam’s Mickey Mouse loan deal to the now-bankrupt solar manufacturer Solyndra was not only a bad investment decision, but likely a contributing factor to the company’s implosion. The new factory built with Department of Energy funds foisted fixed costs on a company already struggling through an industry shake-out, [investors] say. What’s more, the debt paradoxically made raising more money difficult. Once the government demanded priority in the event of failure, private investors were less likely to prop up the company. One Solyndra investor said that, in retrospect,''the worst thing that happened to Solyndra was the loan.''

SAN FRANCISCO -- An estimated half-million illegal immigrants live in the Bay Area, according to a study that is one of the first to try to measure the number of local residents living in the U.S. illegally. The report by the Public Policy Institute of California used tax returns, previous national estimates and mathematical models to determine that 563,000 illegal immigrants live in the Bay Area, about 8 percent of the region's total population. Santa Clara County leads the Bay Area with 180,000 illegal immigrants, followed by Alameda County with 124,000 and Contra Costa County with 79,000, the study found....

Muslim Brotherhood-tied CAIR and their operative, Lamis Deek, know the power of Islamic Jew-hatred as commanded in the Islamic texts and teachings, and instead of fighting it, they mine it. Exploit it. They know the power of their hate. The vile inciter and demagogue Lamis Deek's history is well documented. It is not surprising that she is the attorney for the Muslim Brotherhood-tied MAS group building a super-mosque on a quiet residential street in Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn. CAIR's Great FBI Scare Lecture Investigative Project on Terrorism A recent "Know Your Rights" presentation by the Council on American-Islamic Relations' (CAIR)...

SAN FRANCISCO -- The seats of some well used methods of public transportation have been analyzed by a biologist and the results might keep commuters on their feet. A supervisor with San Francisco State University's biology lab recently tested the bacterial content of a random BART seat and a Muni seat. The Bay Citizen commissioned the study. On Muni's plastic seats she found two forms of harmless bacteria, and after using an alcohol wipe on the seat no bacteria was detected. But the cloth seats on BART told an entirely different story: tests of the seats on BART revealed fecal...

If you are a true GREEN BAY PACKERS FAN, you just might enjoy: THE PACKER BROTHERS PODCAST! The Packer Brothers Podcast? It's high-energy, passion, and love for the Green Bay Packers – with a dash of humor. Well, Packers fans, is Aaron Rodgers' bell getting rung going to end up the closing bell to the Packer's playoff hopes? Of course, they're still in the hunt, but the question is this: Is Rodgers? A game full of missed opportunities results in an 8-5 record. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. Was the surprisingly tough showing by the Lions back in early October in...

If you are a true GREEN BAY PACKERS FAN, you just might enjoy: THE PACKER BROTHERS PODCAST! The Packer Brothers Podcast? It's high-energy, passion, and love for the Green Bay Packers – with a dash of humor. Packers 34, 49ers 16 Another slow start for Green Bay, this time in the friendly confines of a chilly and windy Lambeau Field. But dominate they did, eventually, their shaky visitors from San Francisco. Another lights-out performance by Aaron Rodgers, a sensational rumblin', bumblin', stumblin' TD by a healthy Donald Driver to seal the victory, and a surprisingly strong debut by the...

If you are a true GREEN BAY PACKERS FAN, you just might enjoy: THE PACKER BROTHERS PODCAST! The Packer Brothers Podcast? It's high-energy, passion, and love for the Green Bay Packers – with a dash of humor. Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda. That about sums it up. Aaron Rodgers is a very fine quarterback, perhaps the best in the Georgia Dome last Sunday, but he is not a great goal line running back. That, of course, is not his fault, but regardless, the Packers take a tough loss against a very solid, well-balanced Atlanta Falcons team led by quarterback Matt Ryan,...

If you are a true GREEN BAY PACKERS FAN, you just might enjoy: THE PACKER BROTHERS PODCAST! The Packer Brothers Podcast? It's high-energy, passion, and love for the Green Bay Packers – with a dash of humor. Ho hum, another trip to the Metrodome to play the Vikings. What a fantastic game for Aaron Rodgers, Greg Jennings, Tramon Williams, Charles Woodson, and the rest of the surging Packers in the Voodoo Palace, the MetroTomb (what we will always call it, no matter which corporate leviathan buys the naming rights). You can savor last Sunday's tasty victory over the 'Sota...

If you are a true GREEN BAY PACKERS FAN, you just might enjoy: THE PACKER BROTHERS PODCAST! The Packer Brothers Podcast? It's high-energy, passion, and love for the Green Bay Packers – with a dash of humor. Your hosts, Packer Pete and Lambeau Jack, discuss last Sunday’s stunningly-lopsided thrashing of the Dallas Cowboys in storied Lambeau Field. We thought Dallas was weakened, but this is ridiculous! The tattered Cowboy mystique can't hide a Texas-size pitcher of quit as the Green Bay Rodgers (or is it the Green Bay Matthews?) run over the Starbellies in every phase of the game....

If you are a true GREEN BAY PACKERS FAN, you just might enjoy: THE PACKER BROTHERS PODCAST! The Packer Brothers Podcast? It's high-energy, passion, and love for the Green Bay Packers – with a dash of humor. Your hosts, Packer Pete and Lambeau Jack, discuss last Sunday’s entirely avoidable loss in Lambeau Field, as the Packers endured even more roster-depleting injuries to key players. Two weeks in a row, the Packers go down to defeat in overtime, this time to the Miami Dolphins. This time in the friendly confines of Lambeau Field. Why are the Packers struggling so much?...

If you are a true GREEN BAY PACKERS FAN, you just might enjoy: THE PACKER BROTHERS PODCAST! The Packer Brothers Podcast? It's high-energy, passion, and love for the Green Bay Packers – with a dash of humor. Your hosts, Packer Pete and Lambeau Jack, discuss last Sunday’s disaster in Washington, as the Packers absorbed a painful and roster-shredding overtime loss to the McNabb-fueled Redskins. The Packer Brothers do their usual brilliant and hilarious dissection of all phases of the game, take a look at next Sunday's contest against the Miami Dolphins at Lambeau Field, and answer the question, "What...

If you are a true GREEN BAY PACKERS FAN, you just might enjoy: THE PACKER BROTHERS PODCAST! The Packer Brothers Podcast? It's high-energy, passion, and love for the Green Bay Packers – with a dash of humor. Your hosts, Packer Pete and Lambeau Jack, discuss the Packers’ thoroughly unsatisfying home victory over the Detroit Lions, a tale of two games: In the first half, Aaron Rodgers guides the Pack in three nice scoring drives to take the lead 21-7. But ominously, the Lions score a second touchdown just before the half ends, setting up an exasperating and scary second...

If you are a true Green Bay Packers fan, you just might enjoy: THE PACKER BROTHERS PODCAST! The Packer Brothers Podcast? It's high-energy, passion, and love for the Green Bay Packers – with a dash of humor. Your hosts, Packer Pete and Lambeau Jack, discuss the Packers’ crushing 20-17 road loss to the Chicago Bears, their grades for the Packers players and coaches, the Packers’ upcoming home game against the Detroit Lions this coming Sunday, and more. Packers wide receiver James Jones coughs up a game-changing fumble late in Monday night’s game against the Bears. Pete and Jack --...

If you are a true Green Bay Packers fan, you might enjoy this new podcast: THE PACKER BROTHERS PODCAST! The Packer Brothers Podcast? It's high-energy, passion, and love for the Green Bay Packers – with a dash of humor. Your hosts, Packer Pete and Lambeau Jack, discuss the Packers’ BIG HOME OPENER WIN over the Buffalo Bills, the early season-ending injuries of key players, the Packers’ upcoming road game against the Chicago Bears, on Monday Night Football and more. Against the Bills, Packers’ tight end, Jermichael Finley, had 4 receptions for 103 yards! Pete and Jack -- real brothers...

If you are a true Green Bay Packers fan, you might enjoy this new podcast: THE PACKER BROTHERS PODCAST! The Packer Brothers Podcast? It's high-energy, passion, and love for the Green Bay Packers – with a dash of humor. Your hosts, Packer Pete and Lambeau Jack, discuss the Packers’ BIG ROAD WIN over the Philadelphia Eagles, the early season-ending injuries of key players, the Packers’ upcoming home game against the Buffalo Bills, and more. Clay Matthews celebrates another big play! Pete and Jack -- real brothers from the same mother -- grew up in the shadow of Lambeau Field....

If you are a true Green Bay Packers fan, you might enjoy this new podcast: THE PACKER BROTHERS PODCAST! The Packer Brothers Podcast? It's high-energy, passion, and love for the Green Bay Packers. Your hosts, Packer Pete and Lambeau Jack, survey the state of the Packers coming out of the offseason and heading into the first regular season game at Philadelphia.

As the story goes, the Transformers -- enmeshed in intergalactic battle -- traveled from the far-off planet of Cybertron all the way to earth in pursuit of an all-powerful talisman. They are having trouble handling the National Park Service, however. .................................................... Kathy Hollinger, director of the D.C. Office of Motion Picture and Television Development, acknowledged that the plans amounted to "a lot more than D.C. has ever been accustomed to in terms of scale and impact," including, for instance, simulated explosions and pyrotechnics at locations along Pennsylvania and Independence avenues.

Obama to visit East Bay next weekBy Josh Richman Oakland Tribune Updated: 05/21/2010 05:12:30 PM PDT Determined to show his administration is focused on easing creation of the jobs of the future, President Barack Obama will travel to the Bay Area next week, with his itinerary including a visit to a solar-panel manufacturing plant in Fremont. The president on Wednesday will visit Solyndra Inc., which is using a $535 million federal loan guarantee it received through last year's economic-stimulus legislation to build a new plant just down Kato Road from its existing one. Obama will tour the existing facility, then...

I can tell you that this new statement from Megan Fox's PR flack about why the actress won't be appearing in Transformers 3 is absolutely untrue: "It was her decision not to return. She wishes the franchise the best." What a pantload. I stand by my scoop that Paramount and Michael Bay kicked her to the curb by not picking up her option to do the threequel.

<p>A truck driver died early today after losing control on the Bay Bridge S-curve at high speed and plummeting 200 feet below to Yerba Buena Island, the most serious collision yet since the new detour was installed, the California Highway Patrol said.</p>

The Bay Bridge reopened just after 9 a.m. today, six days after a repair job on a cracked structural beam on the eastern span fell apart and plunged onto the upper deck. Tests conducted overnight and this morning on an altered version of that repair job showed that the fix was holding, Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney said. At 9:01 a.m., a fleet of five California Highway Patrol cars escorted the first private vehicles allowed onto the westbound upper deck since the span was shut down Tuesday evening. About 10 minutes later, the lower deck reopened for traffic heading to the...

Authorities said they are shutting down the Bay Bridge in both directions after pieces of the cantilever section fell during the late-afternoon commute, striking three vehicles on the upper deck, the California Highway Patrol said. Caltrans officials said the parts that fell were two high-strength rods and a saddle that were part of the emergency repair that delayed the opening of the bridge on Labor Day weekend.

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- A powerful Islamist group linked to al-Qaida on Wednesday ordered two radio stations in southwestern Somalia to stop broadcasts indefinitely. Al-Shabab delivered letters to Jubba and Warsan Radio stations early Wednesday ordering the shut down without giving any reasons, said Mohamed Adawe, a journalist with Jubba Radio. Another Jubba Radio journalist, Abdikarin Jakarta, said the letters threatened the stations with unspecified action if they disobeyed the closure orders.

A Scituate man reeled in a 624-pound mako shark Thursday, possibly breaking the record for the biggest male mako ever caught, a biologist said. “I’ve caught a million sharks before, but never anything this feisty,” said Taylor Sears, 20, a Massachusetts Maritime Academy junior who said he fishes every day of the summer. Greg Skomal, a shark specialist with the state Division of Marine Fisheries, said the 10-foot fish is the largest male mako shark ever to be recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, and appears to be the largest male ever caught. “We didn’t think they got this big, basically,”...

This sequel starts relatively modestly with the revelation that Transformers have been around since 17,000 BC (cue cavemen fighting alien robots), before switching to a less-nerdy-than-before Sam (LaBeouf) getting ready to go to college. Mysteriously, his supersexy girlfriend Mikaela (Fox) is still with him - though naturally neither can quite bring themselves to say the 'L' word. Sam accidentally touches a shard of the ancient Transformer technology and finds his mind flooded with hieroglyphics.

Hundreds attend Tea Party rally in Green Bay, WI.

Check out the Bay News 9 reporterette, as she files her nails this morning, during Salin Palin's rally, in New Port Richey, Florida:   We believe that this is probably [!!!] Bay News 9's own Carol Minn Vacca:     Here is Carol Minn Vacca's official biography at Bay News 9:   Carol Minn Vacca - Reporterhttp://www.baynews9.com/content/13/2006/5/1/156612.html Carol began her television career in Macon, Ga., WMAZ TV as an associate producer, later becoming the weekday morning and noon anchor. She later moved further north to Louisville, Ky. As a reporter at WHAS TV, she covered everything from the Kentucky Derby...

I have a serious question. We live on a bay on the Oregon Coast and this time of year the rats want in really bad. I can D Con in the Garage because I can hide it behind the tool bench where they follow along the wall. I cannot D Con around the house because we have 3 Labs and sometimes the other Labs in the area sneak away and come visit our home ( I don't encourage them). So I am looking at these plug in the wall sonar rat repellants. Do they work? Can I plug them inside...

If demography is destiny, then news of America's decline is (like Mark Twain's death) decidedly premature. Statisticians tell us Oct. 17 (at 7:46 a.m. EDT, according to the Census Bureau's estimate) was the day America's population reached, then surpassed, 300 million people. That's a three followed by eight zeroes. Unfortunately, Oct. 17 was Halloween with an extra "Boo" (B with two zeroes) for various "greens" and ecological radicals mired in Malthusian desperation and myths of looming disaster. For decades, the doomsayers have been predicting catastrophe wrought by the "population explosion" and diminishing resources. Author and columnist Mark Steyn notes in...

8/18/2006 - MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFPN) -- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers broke training camp Thursday and in an unprecedented move for the team, held its day-before-game walk-through at MacDill AFB, Fla. The Buccaneers, who play their second pre-season game against the Miami Dolphins Saturday, have a long-standing relationship and community partnership with the military here. "You guys have no idea what a great morale booster it is for you to come out and do this," said Col. Maggie Woodward, 6th Air Mobility Wing commander. "It means a lot that you think enough of us to do this." Friday's...

FORT BELVOIR, Va., Aug. 18, 2006 – There’s plenty of fuel available to fill the tanks of U.S. military vehicles and aircraft despite widely reported accounts of a commercial oil pipeline rupture in Alaska, a senior Defense Department logistician said here yesterday. “We’re in good shape all the time. We have significant fuel reserves. If fuel became locally unavailable, … we could move fuel from elsewhere in the United States to cover DoD’s requirements,” John S. Bartenhagen Jr., Defense Energy Support Center deputy director for operations, said. The center buys fuel for defense department needs. It is a component...

TAMPA, Fla. -- Security "pat-downs" of fans at Tampa Bay Buccaneers games are unconstitutional and unreasonable, a federal judge ruled Friday, throwing into question the practice at NFL games nationwide. U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore issued an order siding with a season-ticket holder who had sued to stop the fan searches that began last season after the NFL implemented enhanced security measures. High school civics teacher Gordon Johnson sued the Tampa Sports Authority, which operates the stadium, to stop officials from conducting the "suspicionless" searches. A state judge agreed with Johnston that the searches are likely unconstitutional and halted...

A council has apologised to a woman who was fined £60 after workmen painted a disabled bay around her car. When Shirley Hatcher, 67, parked her car in North Road, Southampton, Hampshire, there were no parking restrictions in place. Mrs Hatcher, of Priory Road, said: "I had just gone to the hairdressers and when I returned there was this disabled bay and the £60 fine." A spokeswoman for Southampton City Council has apologised for the error. Mrs Hatcher said: "I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it. "My car was covered in polka dots from the paint they had...

Rescuers using small boats, a helicopter and a C-130 aircraft searched a portion of the Chesapeake Bay today for missing diplomat and publisher Philip Merrill, whose sailboat was found adrift last night, Coast Guard authorities said. Officials from the Maryland Natural Resources Police and the Coast Guard began searching overnight the area between the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and the point where his boat was found, which is roughly 20 miles south of Annapolis. The search area is roughly 25 miles by 8 miles, said Coast Guard Lt. Commander Adam Mach. Rescuers using small boats, a helicopter and a C-130 aircraft...

WASHINGTON — President Bush expressed "serious concern" Saturday over the suicides at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay and directed an aggressive effort by his administration to reach out diplomatically while it investigates. "He wants to make sure that this thing is done right from all points of view," White House press secretary Tony Snow said Saturday evening. Bush, who is spending the weekend at Camp David, was notified at 7:45 a.m. EDT. Snow said it was during his daily intelligence briefing just afterward when the president voiced his concern over the incident and directed that the bodies be...

They would be surprised by how clean, orderly and relatively benign things are given the fact that it is a detention center for some of the worst terrorists on the planet.... Provisions are there for hygiene, massive medical oversight and care, and an extraordinary focus on feeding. I have an entire chapter written on the food service and nutrition. Americans might be somewhat upset to see that the detainees eat better than the American guards.... We did get to observe on-going interrogations behind glass with a detainee, an interrogator and a translator. In one instance, the detainee ate a box...

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, April 4, 2006 – Preliminary hearings began here today for an Afghan man accused of working as a translator and accountant for al Qaeda in Afghanistan and involvement in a grenade attack that injured three journalists in March 2002. Abdul Zahir appeared in court wearing a dress shirt and khaki pants and talked and laughed with his translator and military attorney before proceedings began. An issue arose immediately when the presiding officer found out that written charges had been submitted to Zahir in English, Arabic and Pashtu, but Zahir's native language is Farsi. Marine Col....

HAYWARD, Calif. (AP) -- New cracks appear in Elke DeMuynck's ceiling every few weeks, zigzagging across her living room, creeping toward the fireplace, veering down the wall. Month after month, year after year, she patches, paints and waits. "It definitely lets you know your house is constantly shifting," DeMuynck said. So do the gate outside that swings uselessly 2 1/2 inches from its latch, the strange bulges in the street and the geology students who make pilgrimages to her cul-de-sac. DeMuynck could throw her paint brush from her front stoop and hit the Hayward Fault, which geologists consider the most...

Fault East of Bay Area 'Locked and Loaded' Saturday March 25, 2006 7:31 PM By SCOTT LINDLAW Associated Press Writer HAYWARD, Calif. (AP) - New cracks appear in Elke DeMuynck's ceiling every few weeks, zigzagging across her living room, creeping toward the fireplace, veering down the wall. Month after month, year after year, she patches, paints and waits. ``It definitely lets you know your house is constantly shifting,'' DeMuynck said. So do the gate outside that swings uselessly 2 inches from its latch, the strange bulges in the street and the geology students who make pilgrimages to her cul-de-sac. DeMuynck...

Click here for updated storm photo galleries, computer simulations, NOAA website links and detailed information on the Kilauea flood as well as breaking information and event postponements... Recent Garden Island headlines... The Garden Island multi-media links...

The Department of Defense announced today the completion of the first round of Administrative Review Board (ARB) decisions. All of the hearings for this first round were conducted from Dec. 14, 2004, to Dec. 23, 2005. Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon R. England, the Designated Civilian Official (DCO) for the ARB process, has made final decisions on all 463 board recommendations; these decisions consist of 14 releases (3 percent), 120 transfers (26 percent) and 329 continue to detain (71 percent). The ARB is a review process conducted annually to determine whether each detainee should be released, transferred or further detained....

WASHINGTON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - A U.S. Army general who rhelped set up operations at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq has asserted his right not to incriminate himself in the courts-martial of two soldiers accused of mistreating detainees there, The Washington Post reported on Thursday. The move by Major Gen. Geoffrey Miller is the first time he has indicated he might have information that could implicate him in wrongdoing, the newspaper said, citing military lawyers. Invoking the right does not legally imply guilt it said. It said the action came shortly after the commanding officer at Abu Ghraib, Col. Thomas...

U.S. NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Jan. 9, 2006 – Military commissions proceedings resume this week as officials here hold preliminary hearings in the cases of two enemy combatants held here since 2002. Proceedings will resume in the case of Ali Hamza Ahmad Sulayman al Bahlul, a Yemeni man accused of crafting terrorist propaganda, and begin for Canadian teen Omar Ahmed Khadr, who officials say killed a U.S. serviceman while fighting for al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Military commissions proceedings began against Bahlul in August 2004 but were halted by a federal district judge's ruling in November 2004. An appeals court...

The government agency leading the cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay has consistently overstated its progress while minimizing threats to the bay and its own failures to address them, according to a federal oversight report released yesterday. ... The criticism comes amid growing angst among policymakers and the public that an agreement reached five years ago for cleaning the bay by 2010 could fail without a big political and financial boost. In the agreement, known as Chesapeake 2000, the region's political and environmental leaders proposed cutting the amount of major pollutants that enter the bay nearly in half over a decade....

FOR MORE than 20 years, educators have known that children would do better in school if the calendar were expanded. The seminal 1983 report ''A Nation at Risk" recommended that school districts consider seven-hour schedules as well as a 200- to 220-day school year. In 1994 the National Education Commission on Time and Learning in its report ''Prisoners of Time" reached the same conclusion: The United States should significantly expand its conventional school calendar to accommodate the demands of education reform efforts. [...] That's about to change. The Legislature provided $500,000 in next year's budget for planning grants to school...

Potentially affecting taxpayers in Arizona and at least 12 other states, thousands of tax payments and other correspondence sent to the Internal Revenue Service were dumped into San Francisco Bay in an automobile accident. Approximately 30,000 estimated quarterly tax payments sent to an IRS post office box in San Francisco in early September were ejected into the bay from a contract courier vehicle involved in the Sept. 11 accident, the IRS said in a "problem alert" statement issued Friday.

Cobbeldick aims his sights on town's top office Thursday, August 04, 2005 By CAROLYN STEIGMAN BAY VILLAGE _ If Bruce Cobbeldick isn't elected mayor of Bay Village in November, it won't be for lack of trying. He has been campaigning at a feverish pace since first announcing his plan to run for the position in March 2004. No one goes door to door like me, tries this hard to be accessible to people, or takes the initiative to have Web sites and campaign headquarters in place for the convenience of citizens, Cobbeldick said. What other candidate has rented out the...

Laura Bush pressured to resign over Guantanamo Bay scandal - President withholds decision POSTED: 2:35 pm PDT July 16, 2005 (AP Photo/Haraz Ghanbari) WASHINGTON -- Former presidential candidate John Kerry said Saturday "Laura Bush ought to be fired." Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., a possible 2008 presidential contender, nodded in agreement when the two appeared together on Capitol Hill. Also Saturday, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said the matter of leaking a recipe from her cookbook "rises above politics and is about our national security." Leading White House critic Representative John Conyers added, “All we know is that it was...

I am confident I am the best candidate because O’Boyle’s campaign is mostly about simply defeating Deborah Sutherland, and if Bay’s present School Board President becomes mayor, it would be a pretty darn rough on Bay taxpayers, as I can only imagine how easy it would be for the School Board to pretty much get whatever its wants – they’d say jump and the residents would be saying, “how high?” My platform is the most substantial. My vision for Bay Village maps to the true desires of most residents and most business owners; moreover, I’m the only candidate who is...

Multimedia Newsletter: LOBBY FOR COBBY Bruce Cobbeldick For Mayor! Newsletter Friends Of Bruce Cobbeldick Mayoral Campaign Bay Village, OH - - According to Candidate Bruce Cobbeldick, November 2005 should be one of the most interesting mayoral races Bay Village has ever seen. "Bay is at a crossroads right now, and while some issues seem pretty cut and dried, it's when one spends just a little more time thinking about things - it's when one considers the source and looks at who stands to gain what that or lose what - that the voter has the opportunity to decypher double-talk and...